Meet Christ through Prayer

Where does prayer come from?  Saint Therese said it comes from the heart. It must surge from it. Surge? What does that mean? A surge is a sudden powerful forward on an upward movement.

How does this surge happen? This surge of the heart, in all its humility, desires to be in heaven. That is why Saint Therese said it is a “simple look turned toward heaven”. It is the look of a child toward his father – simple, humble and full of hope.

Also, this surge of the heart is a cry of recognition and of love. When we cry, it is either we are in need of something, like an infant in need of his food; or we are in ecstasy of joy like a mother being reunited with her lost child. As prayer is a cry of recognition and of love, it might be that there is both a need and a satisfaction in man of recognition and of love from the Father. God’s recognition of love for us makes us both hungry for more and at the same time filled with contentment.

Lastly, this surge of the heart stretches us to embrace both trial and joy. Since prayer is a sudden powerful forward of the heart toward God, then we are able to accept anything that happens to our lives for we are sure it would bring us to Him. When we are in prayer, we get to acknowledge who God is and what God can do; and because of what we are able to accept and  moreover,  endure all things that come from Him as His will for our souls, be it trial or joy.

Prayer must become very personal to us. When we come in prayer, we must be our very self, our whole being in front of God. Our prayer pushes us to an ever more intimate relationship with God in a desire to be in eternity with Him.

Resources:
The New Evangelization Resource Book (NERB)

Related Articles:

Meet Christ

Life Is Not About....

Life Is Not About...

Life is not about keeping score of achievements.

Who has won or who has lost

Life is about who has kept trying despite the odds

Who has persevered through it all.

Life is not about who has gone to most places,

or traveled the world.

Life is about going to the most important place,

your inner self.

Life is not about who is most beautiful,

or captured the hearts of many.

Life is about being beautiful in His eyes

And capturing His heart.

Life is not about who has the most,  
or who has less

It is not even who has loved the most

But rather who has loved at all

For whether you have or you don’t

Have gone 10,000 miles or just one step

Whether you win or you lose,

If you have loved, then you have all you need.

by Grace Madrinan

In Your Perfect Time

Lord, You know me better than I know myself

And Your plans are greater than mine

No mind is wiser than Yours

No hands is mightier than Yours

No time is more perfect than Yours

This, I know, my Lord …

But, Lord, should I forget that You know me

And I keep complaining

And I keep on insisting

And I keep on pursuing

My plans rather than heeding Yours,

Forgive me Lord, for I am weak.

But with Your grace and strength, Lord

I stand

I walk

I abide

By Your plans, in Your honor, in Your perfect time!

by Grace B. Madriñan

Lord, Take My Littleness

I looked at myself in silence

and realized that I have nothing on my own.

Lord, I am nothing without you.

You created me and I remain a mere creature!

You are the owner of my life.

You initiated that relationship with me,

you dream for me

and you want me to collaborate with you.

Lord I live in pretense,

in ways which I am not.

But with your interest in me,

you made me realize my own uniqueness.

Lord, I am your child.

You searched me

and hedged me round with your loving arms.

Forgive my inequities and selfishness.

I continue my journey

with my own brokenness,

failures and pains.

I will continue my journey,

full of hope and trust,

that you are there to rescue me.

Give me the strength to carry my burdens

and the courage to face obstacles in life

Help me Lord

to claim back opportunities that I missed

and that many chances of seeing you,

because I was unaware of their passing by.

You have created me,

and you know that purpose.

You take pleasure in me and I offer myself again.

Though little as I am,

probably hidden in the eyes of many,

take me,

even the littleness of my being.

I am yours.

(Fr. Raul Tabaranza)

Enough of pointing fingers

by Grace Madrinan

Enough of pointing fingers. We already read lots of opinions and sad articles putting the nation in hot spot again following the tragic end of the hostage taking in Manila last August 23. After everything that has happened, what do we get out of this tragedy aside from shame and misery? Though darkness is still upon us, misfortunes like this should be a learning for us all. 

• Life is short. Who would have thought that a day intended for sight-seeing would turn out to be their last day? I know it sounds gory to treat our days as if it is our last, but sometimes it helps us grounded to the things that matters most in life. So we should make each day count, love more, serve more…so that when that day comes: No regrets. “Handa tayo”
• This is a wake-up call to our government. This is just one man who took hostage of helpless tourists, yet we failed to handle the situation properly. Not that I wanted something worse to happen but what if we have terrorist attack, a siege or another coup d’etat? Learning from this tragedy and preparing for the worse, can help save more lives in the future.
• A ball dropped so low can still bounce back higher than its fall. I heard this from Fr. Joey Faller’s homily. He is right. We can still bounce back from this pit and we will persevere. As long as we learn from our past mistakes.
• Humility. This is our lesson in humility. This is no time justifying our actions, making excuses and covering up our lack of training and coordination. We need to apologize. Accept our shortcomings. We also need to sympathize and pray for all the victims of the tragedy. Check this link where the prayers of the faithful is published by the Archdiocese of Manila in response to the wake of this event.
• Brings out the true Filipino is us. There are those Filipinos who joined the rest of the world in condemning our country for the wrong of a few. But there are also those who stood by our race through good and bad times. There is one particularly teenager who did just that. He made a personal letter of apology to the families of Hongkong victims, as well as defending Filipinos in general. Read the letter in full here http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6581538-a-letter-of-apology-from-a-filipino-teenager-after-the-hostage-drama 
• We are all connected. As the saying goes, “Sakit ng kalingkingan, dama ng buong katawan”. The hostage taker has his own personal reasons for his violent actions which we know nothing about and yet the consequences put the whole country in total condemnation. The media saw an opportunity to catch the latest ‘scoop’, and took a live coverage of the whole situation, even if it means obstructing the negotiation process and broadcasting our futility. Others, even after seeing how horrendous the tragedy is, managed to pose in front of the hostage bus like a new tourist destination. Our actions, be it big or small, affect not only one but all of us.
• Do not judge. The hostage crisis that happened last Monday was not the first of its kind. There are a lot of tragedies that happened around the world, that either go unnoticed or just passed like a bad dream. It is not right to judge that what happened was the worst, or that things could have been done differently. We are not the experts, we are not the ones involved (thank God) and no one could have guaranteed that any person could even think aright (even the trained) in those kind of situations. As the Bible says, “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone." John 8:7.
• Respect emotions. Our Chinese brothers and sisters from Hongkong are grieving, enraged and confused because of the tragedy they suffered. They have the right to feel their emotions. I heard from a Filipino-Chinese in a news program that Hongkong Nationals and Filipinos are very different in accepting tragedies. We, Filipinos, are resilient to the point that we don’t dwell on tragedies that long enough to hold a grudge. But for our Hongkong Chinese brothers, they want closures faster and they will not stop until they find justice. So if they vent harsh words on us, we must not reciprocate with hostility. Instead, we must keep our silence and show compassion.
• Prove them wrong. This is a time to be more careful with our actions. Do more good. Let them realize (remember) the good-hearted people that we are – that what happened on that dreadful Monday evening is but an isolated violence and mishap.

“You will forget your misery, you will remember it as waters that have passed away. And your life will be brighter than the noonday, its darkness will be like the morning. And you will have confidence, because there is hope, you will be protected and take your rest in safety”

- Job 11:16-18

Docility

Father, I beg your mercy

For the times that I failed to forgive

For the times that I failed to recognize your presence

Be merciful to me- a sinner

For the many times I was irresponsible to my freedom

For using my freedom according to my own control

Remove my pride

Teach me not to be self-righteous

Make me acknowledge your strength

Help me to accept my shortcomings

To work out my fears

and not to be deceived by my senses

And to allow you to wipe them out

Father of compassion and love

Melt my prejudices and caress my yearning soul

What a joy to know that I am your perfect creation!

But make me humble, not boastful

Make me recognize my simplicity

Make me loving to the poor

To live the new covenant with you

That my heart may be pierced by their poverty

Give me courage

Make me grow in faith

Give me your constant love

Father, Creator, Shepherd and Potter

Knead my heart

Make it perfect through your touch

Make me vulnerable

Ready to face pain

Willing to be smoothened

Make me strong

Make me alive

Make me what you want me to be

Fashion my life

Make a masterpiece out of me

I am ready now….

Raul Tabaranza

Comboni Missionary